Civil gang
injunctions criminalize a wide range of day-to-day activities, such as riding
bicycles or appearing in public view with others subject to an injunction. In
practice, gang injunctions severely limit people's rights. However, the
California Supreme Court has found that injunctions do not violate the United
States Constitution. Their reasoning is based on misconceptions about the
impacts of injunctions on people's lives and, in turn, their liberty interests.
This article incorporates social science theory about gang involvement with
narrative examples demonstrating the extent to which gang injunctions burden
people's liberty interests to highlight unconstitutional aspects of gang
injunctions.